The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-16


| City. 1t did not take me very long to in
gratlate myself thoroughly into their good
gfaceS and seeing that my knowledge of
the weapon was little more advanced than
thelr own they elected me high muck-a-
muck, a position held for some time with
great pride. There's no telling what set
OF mlschlevous youngsters is capable of
DONG. We used to climb up in old garrets
unat overlooked back yards and shoot at the
rear window panes of adjoining houses. OF
course, the panes would be smashed, and,
or course, the perpetrator of the dark deed
was never found. But we had still more
amusing sport than that. What do YOU
think we'd doi Some warm summer DAYS
wed climb way up into the top of a
Tree very near some sidewalk and cunningly
wait Tor victims. For missiles we had gath
cred number of pebbles, and nicely adj
]usting these in the holder or bag or the
hggersshooter,' we would pop it to every
man who CHANGED to pass beneath the fatal
Tree. We would always try to hit him
on the leg, as he would then imagine that
the shot came from below and not from
ABOVE. 1t makes me almost double up with
laughter even now when / think of the utter
surprise depicted on the countenances of
those who got hit. They'd look around and
above, look at the windows of the opposite
house very savagely, and look everywhere
but In the proper direction. We were al
ways comfortably ensconced in the depths
or the trees foliage. We continued to ply
| this business without interruption until one
very sad day, and that was when we pre-
summed to take whack at a royal cop He
strutted beneath the tree with such a males
TIC air that simultaneous with our shots we
| uttered slight litter That settled our
hash. That cop calmly waited beneath the
tree with drawn club, and we ruefully de-
scended and were taken into custody. That
| lltGle event put damper upon our sport,
| though it did not kill it entirely Another
thing we did was to shoot pigeons on the
street, and then skip. | remember we'll one
Christmas eve when the nigger-shooter
proved the turning point in my career. l
| had just been engaged in the innocent
pastlme OF shooting leaden slug high up
in the air and so calculating the distance as
to let it fall down upon the roof of hot
house 100 yards away. Each descending
slug would smash pane of glass, and was
extremely happy at the good result. While
1 was still softly whistling and smashing
the roof panes, l saw somebody leaning
over the fence and reckoning to me to
approach. ! was about to do so, when |
noticed that he had one hand behind him.
That excited my youthful suspicion, and |
decided to keep my eye on that hand.
My little man" he said sweetly, lean
you tell me who has been firing a pistol at
my hot-house" and he took some of the
slugs and showed them to me.
"Emboldened by the thought that he sus.
pected somebody else, / approached to OK
anime the slug, and the next thing I knew
he had me over the fence by the collar and
exhibited the hidden hand, which held
1.-the cowhide. | thought my time had come,
and was about to yell murder, when he lift
ed the cowhide menacingly. That was
quite enough | believe it was owing to
owning up and telling the truth that l es-
capped one of the most awful lickings imag-
Unable, right in front of my own house, too.
But it taught me a lasting lesson, and /
foreswore nigger-shooters altogether. But
1t has always been a mystery to me how
the name 'nigger-shooter' originated.
II remember the darned thing well, :"
spoke up another ''early citizen" land I'll
tell you how | think the name originated.
During the war railroad track was laid to
the point, and they used to bring Niger
workmen out and in all the time. The track
ran right along the fortreSses, and as the
train went by all the boys would get their
shooters ready and pelt the niggers black
and blue. You just ought to have seen 'em
dodge to keep clear of the pebbles and slugs /
A slug from a ''nigger- shooter stings like
fire, and the sweetest tempered man would
get wild if he was hit by one. Those Mig
gers would dread passing the forts, for they
knew what was coming, but they'd have to
stand it. Now that's the reason that
think they are called 'nigger-shooters,
though I've heard it said that during the
war up North they called 'em 'rebel-shoot-
ers. ,"
When was kid" spoke up another,
I'D get in my work on organ grinders
with that very weapon. While he'd be
playing for all he was worth and making
the monkey perform, I'd fire at him through
the Stats of a blind, and there wouldn't be
any more internal music around those
diggings. | used to carry one in my pocket
all the time, and many's the sly shot I've
taken at people while was hidden"
Such were some of the "reminiscences of
an instrument that at one time formed a
most important part of the education of
the juvenile element of Galveston. They
are still used by the rising generation in
some measure, but without the old-timed
fire. In fact the ''nigger-shooter" has seen
its best days and is steadily on the decline.
The instrument was usually composed of
fork cut from an oleander bush. on the
prongs of which two pieces of elastic would
be tied which terminated in a leather bag.
The bag held the missiles which caused so
much injury, and not only boys but men
became at one time crack shots with the
''nigger-shooter. But their day is no